


Holding Cell

by collapsingStars



Series: The Shuake Week 2020 Project [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: (But it's not like...sad), Canon-Typical Violence, Confessions, Crushes, Day One: Hope/Stars/Fantasy, Flirting, Love Confessions, M/M, Police Brutality, Ren is a sappy little shit and Goro fell for it, ShuAkeWeek2020, Suicidal Ideation, Weird Western Space Fantasy AU, Ya I Know Just Roll With Me Here, interrogation room, mild body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27628873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collapsingStars/pseuds/collapsingStars
Summary: But in this setting, there is no time, just doing, and resting. And right now, he needed coffee and a chess game. History hung heavy between the two men, as one sipped coffee and the other made his move in the old cat and mouse game they played; friends, the phantom and the detective. Both on the edge of finality.Ren could have stayed in that warm moment forever.Day One of Shuake Week 2020:Hope/Stars/Fantasy
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: The Shuake Week 2020 Project [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020096
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Holding Cell

**Author's Note:**

> Collapse, is it possible for you to just write out a whole damn story, and not tease us with weird-ass AU’s you’re only ever going to write a one shot for? 
> 
> No.

Space was a frigid wasteland, but in between the stars are pockets of warm memories. 

“Ah! Detective Akechi, it’s good to see you in these parts again.” The barkeep smiled as his favorite patron removed his hat and coat, settling into his usual stool. “Though I do keep wondering why a city boy like yourself comes all the way out here to the galaxy’s edge just for a coffee.” 

“I enjoy the atmosphere,” Detective Akechi said. He adjusted his shoulder holsters, reaching up to re-tie the ponytail knocked loose from the hat. “The inner cities of the Perseus arm get awfully cold compared to out here, Amamiya.” 

“Some run-down little saloon at the tip of the outer norma arm of the Milky Way?” Ren Amamiya got to work grinding the beans for the coffee he usually kept for designated pilots later in the evening. “Are you sure I can’t offer you something stronger than coffee, detective? Some old-earthen vodka would warm you up faster than coffee.” 

“It can’t compare to the actual physical warmth in coffee, you know that,” Akechi laughed. 

“If you’re so cold Detective, then you should stick around later in the evening too. There are plenty of warm bodies willing to go home with you after closing and warm you up,” Ren suggested. 

“And a scandal waiting to happen. Besides, with my luck I’d end up with some drunk ice giant for the night. Why subject myself to that, when you and I have a chess game to settle?” He grinned, and Ren bowed his head in defeat. 

“I was hoping you’d forget,” he playfully groused, as he began the pour over for Akechi’s coffee. Akechi watched the barkeep, with his horribly burned and scarred hands, tip of his star-tattooed tongue peeking out between his lips in concentration. 

“Never. No one has ever challenged me like you do,” Akechi complimented, his own brands tucked underneath careful layers of clothes and spacesuit. 

The duo lapsed into silence, letting the warmth of the near-by star fill the spaces between wood and heavy metal. History hung heavy between the two men, as one prepared coffee for both of them, and the other set up the ancient game; friends, the barkeep and the patron. 

Time had ceased to be counted in this setting. There was only doing and rest, planets that rotated, or no longer rotated at the death of their stars. Humanity was a forgotten concept, Earth having suffered at the death of it’s star a long time ago and becoming an iced over rock. Now they were scattered over the Milky Way, and a part of it’s connecting formation as civilization began to take hold of what used to be considered wild territory. 

Ren Amamiya had grown up on a chunk of rock that housed the star miners, those responsible for going to dead galaxies and harvesting the energy of stars. He had joined them, and then in a terrible accident, had burned his hands and killed a visiting political official. His tongue was branded with a red-star tattoo, condemned as a criminal, and outcast. Luck found him and gave him a home here at this saloon outpost, where so many types wandered through that no one cared what he was or had been.

Goro Akechi, well. No one could say where he’d come from. Just that his current achievements marked him as the most capable Detective in the Milky Way, catching outlaws marked by the Galactic Court as some of the most dangerous and destructive bandits known to the universe. 

Currently though? He was after the Phantom. An outlaw so dangerous he threatened life in the Milky Way Galaxy as they knew it. Major political officials kidnapped, only to show up days later confessing major crimes, or murdered. Whole underdeveloped planets suddenly given the wealth and technology at his hand to progress faster than they would have on their own. And whole major stars gone  _ missing: _ Polaris, Betelgeuse, Vega, Rigus... In a matter of seconds, the light disappears, bringing disaster to galactic ecosystems. It was imperative that he be caught, and Akechi was perfect for the case. And it was swiftly coming to a close. 

But in this setting, there is no time, just doing, and resting. And right now, he needed coffee and a chess game. 

History hung heavy between the two men, as one sipped coffee and the other made his move in the old cat and mouse game they played; friends, the phantom and the detective. Both on the edge of finality. 

Ren could have stayed in that warm moment forever. 

* * *

“Guess the drug was too strong… wake him up!” 

Water splashed on Ren, agitating the bars of his partial electric, partially metal, cage, waking him with a sizzle and pop of sparks. He looked up wearily, sludge dragging at his bones and eyes. What the  _ fuck _ did they inject him with? 

“No dozing off!” The officer said as he stepped closer. Adrenaline and fear started to push through Ren’s veins as he realized the situation, struggling to fight off his drowsiness and pulling on his restraints. He yelped as heat coursed through his skin, his wrists burning in the electric shackles. 

“You just don’t seem to get it do you!?” The officer landed a heavy blow with his arm, knocking Ren over. The man was an alien beast, face a white skull of no emotion, horns extending prominently forward from his head, limbs wrapped in heavy metal connected to a hairy uniformed torso. He brought one limb down, crushing Ren’s ear, and he grit his teeth against the pain. 

He landed another blow to Ren’s stomach, making him hunch in.

“What a weak species. Yet you’ve run the whole gambit, yeah? Defamation, obstruction of justice, blackmail, illegal possession of stars, endangering planets… Hard to believe a human could even be capable of all this. And you seem to be enjoying every second of it...” The officer kicked him again, and Ren saw blood fly from his mouth, and breathing became harder. 

“Uncuff him and get his handprint,” The officer commanded, and a smaller officer dripping slime approached him. The cuffs fell away, and the slimy hand grabbed his and pressed it on the pad, taking his handprint, forcing him to acknowledge the crimes documented as his. 

Even if a majority of it wasn’t true. 

“Don’t expect to leave here in one piece. Disgusting outlaw, didn’t learn from being branded the first time.” The men turned to leave him in the suspended cage, hovering in darkness. 

Ren shivered as he stood, careful to step on the metal in between electric pulses, until he could slump in the chair. It had been going right for so many years; where did he turn wrong? The red-gloved phantom, doing his best to return to the galaxy what selfish leaders had hoarded, stolen, and lied about. Celebrated by the masses and then turned on when stars went missing. But that wasn’t his doing; he had no desire for mass-murder. 

It was  _ his.  _

Akechi stepped through the door and faced his friend. 

“I wish I could say, I’ve come to rescue you.” He said, even as he pulled the old fashioned gun, and screwed on a silencer, still one of the most deadly creations a species had ever discovered. 

“But we both know, that’s not true,” he said quietly, and raised the pistol to aim in-between Ren’s eyes. “I owe you for this. Thanks.” 

Ren took his shot, and reached for the pistol, making the bullet run errant and hit the wall behind him where it sizzled and melted. Akechi grunted and tried to pull back, but not before Ren reached beneath his skin and made contact with the ice-cold flesh of his wrist. 

Akechi cried out and dropped the gun, trying to pull away from the burning touch. Ren scooped it up and aimed it at Akechi. 

“Sorry Detective. I think whatever they gave me is causing me to run a little feverish,” Ren said as he twisted, a harsh break caused Akechi to scream. Akechi reached forward with his other gloved hand and tried to plant it near Ren’s face. Ren let go of him and ducked, as a shot of light burst from Goro and hit the chair, exploding the chair he was just sitting on. He rolled under the table and kicked Akechi’s knees out from under him, making him land on the floor. Akechi went down hard, making the electric bars crackle as he connected, sparks flying from him. 

Ren stood quickly, aiming and throwing the gun between the bars and into the black void, away from their fight. Akechi launched himself at Ren, taking him by surprise, his freezing body knocking him to his ass, and knocking his head back against the wall, where it was his turn to be burned by the electric bars. He screamed, and Akechi wrapped his hands around Ren’s throat, kneeling above Ren. 

“I don’t need a gun to kill you, idiot. Human lives are so easily wasted,” Akechi threatened. 

“Like... you wouldn’t know... Goro…” Ren wheezed, reaching a careful hand between them to where the detective’s coat had crept up, enough space for Ren to plant the palm of his hand against the bare skin of Goro’s stomach. 

The reaction was instantaneous. Goro yelled and withdrew his hands from Ren’s neck and instead reached for his wrist, pulling the burning heat source away from him. He trembled at the touch, hiding it behind makeup, gloves and heavy coats, but Ren knew that Goro was lying about who and what he was. Goro twisted Ren’s wrist threatening to break it, his own wrist already healed. 

“Goro, please, can’t we just…” Ren started. 

“Just WHAT Ren!?” He shouted. “There’s nothing you can do! It’s either die here, or die out there at the hands of the firing brigade, at least I give you a little dignity if I kill you here!” 

“Why?” Ren asked, reaching up with his other hand to gently rest his other hand where Akechi’s heart would be. But the thrum beneath his skin didn’t match the steady thrum of a human heartbeat. 

“That’s none of your business,” Goro growled. 

“For whatever you’re doing to work, I need to die for it. I think it’s a little bit my business,” Ren answered. 

Goro just stared down at him, both of them in stale-mate, both refusing to look away. Ren knew there must be some alert, some report to be made, and some time limit, to his death. But Goro stalled, war happening behind wine soaked eyes. 

Ren found himself remembering offering Goro wine, and having it turned down, again, in favor of coffee. 

“Goro… what are you?” Ren changed the question. 

Something melted in his stare, and he broke it off to look away. He dropped Ren’s wrist, reached to undo the buttons of his shirt, revealing the cold porcelain skin. Ren held his breath as ugly purple scar after ugly purple scar was revealed to him, like Akechi had been cut apart and stitched back together. The gloves fell away and revealed nearly translucent palms, cold and blue. Goro shrugged off his top, pulled off his wig and revealed tendrils of light for hair, eyes a flat white as he turned back to Ren’s gaze. And where his heart should be? Shone nine little spots of light, varying in size and intensity. One for each star gone missing. 

“I’m disgusting,” he spat. “An unholy experiment between a human and an anodite. An unkillable energy being housed in flesh that can die, trapped in an unending cycle of death and rebirth. Caught and tortured until I could be made to house any other forms of energy, killing myself over and over again in the process; an undead husk until I absorb and consume the energy in stars. And uglier monster than Frankenstein could ever dream of.” 

“You’re beautiful,” Ren whispered, unable to resist reaching up to trace gentle fingertips over the lines of Goro’s skin where it was sown together. Goro flinched and sucked a breath in between his teeth, and Ren pulled away. “Does that hurt?” 

“You’re a fire compared to how cold I feel, all the time,” Goro whispered. “A body kept colder than Kelvin can measure so it can house the endless heat plasma energy gives off.” 

“Is that why you liked hot coffee?” Ren said, daring to touch a little more, feeling more warmth closer to his chest. “Is that why you stole the stars?” 

“I… I didn’t want to. But he… the soon to be sworn-in star minister resurrected me from my last attempt at a grave, and promises he knows the secret to my finality. It’s all … that  _ was  _ all I wanted. In return I cause scandal and make him the hero when the thief is caught, giving the stars back and whole planets revere him.” Goro hung his head. “You were a convenient point on which to pin the blame.” 

“So for you to  _ maybe _ die, which would make you happy, I have to die?” Ren asked. 

“...Yes,” the hard edge came again to his eyes, and Ren sighed. 

“But that’s not what you want now,” he whispered, leaning up into Goro’s space. 

“... Get away from me Amamiya,” Goro threatened, even as he went still. “Or you’ll just burn yourself. There’s no happy ending to this.”

“Maybe so,” Ren whispered. “But maybe I can promise you a happy moment, before the both of us return to stardust.” 

He let his fingers trace around frozen ears, cupping Goro’s jaw. He cradled his face, and Akechi winced and shivered, but didn’t pull away. Ren grazed his lips over the edge of his jaw letting Goro sigh and tense against the heat of his mouth, before carefully pushing against his lips.

He held them there, Goro relaxing into his lap, the thrum of stars underneath his skin spreading as Goro pushed back, tipping his head to properly slot their mouths together. Ren sighed and let his hands spread warmth down Goro’s neck, over his shoulders, and boldly over his torso. He slipped his tongue inside Goro’s mouth, letting heat melt the ice inside of him. He slipped his hands around his back, tracing the scars and leaving fire in his wake. 

Warmth filled Goro’s mouth, and it reminded Ren of when he burned his hands, touching the edges of the star that had slipped from its energy holding cell that he hadn’t closed properly. He chased after the burn like a moth to light, like he had always chased the stars as the phantom. 

He heard three sharp knocks on the cell door, but Goro didn’t react. He needed to speed this along. He pushed Goro against his chest, and Goro yelped, pulling back. 

“Too much, too much,” he said, shaking as heat coursed through him. 

“We match,” Akira said dumbly and stuck out his tongue, showing off the outlaw tattoo. 

“I guess… I guess we do,” Goro chuckled, displaying his own tongue where a bright spot sat it it’s center. The stars that sat in his chest had spread through his body to take the heat, making Goro shine brightly. “Red giant, Betelgeuse.” He pointed to the one on his tongue. 

“The stars help give you life, right? The plasma energy?” Ren asked. 

“Yeah. I’ll become a semi-lifeless husk when they go back, not dead but waiting until…” Goro trailed off. 

“I used to be a star miner, Goro. What if we gave these ones back, and we left this galaxy, and I mined stars for you?” Ren asked. 

Goro scoffed. “That’s just the kind of brainless sentimentality I’d expect from you. You’re human. You’ll die eventually, and then where would that leave me?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe by that point they’ll be able to upload my consciousness into an android or something, and I can stick around to be brainlessly sentimental for you,” Ren teased. “It would be better than being cold and alone, forever, right?” 

“Or we can figure out how to kill me and when the time comes, I can join you in returning to star dust, like you promised.” Goro sighed reaching his hand to skim the edges of Ren’s mouth and jaw, experimentally warming his hands. “However, it doesn’t matter what you or I want. If I leave this room and you aren’t dead, I can’t tell what kind of hell there would be to pay. As we speak, I’m overdue for the report, and the mortician is probably waiting outside.” 

“Then why, I wonder, has no one come to check?” Ren smiled. There were a distinct three knocks again and Goro went still. 

“What… Why do I feel like I’ve been had?” Goro narrowed his eyes, and sat back, observing the ever widening grin of Ren’s face. 

“You said it yourself a long time ago, that the Phantom couldn’t possibly be one person; it must be a team of people,” Ren said. 

“They couldn’t possibly…?” Goro started. 

“Break into an interdimensional holding cell to rescue their leader, and his potential partner provided the conversation went well?” Ren gloated. “Of course they could. And they’re just outside waiting for the conversation to end.” 

Goro just stared at him in disbelief, conveying surprise even behind totally white eyes. Ren waited, as he processed the information, gently skimming his fingers over the stars that had settled in his palms, listening to the thrum of the call around them. Eventually Goro just sighed. 

“All this to deceive me and the galactic conspiracy, but you still can’t beat me at chess,” Goro chuckled. 

“Give me the rest of my life to try?” Ren suggested. 

“You’re a fool,” Goro shook his head, but stood, replacing his clothes, except for the coat and wig. 

“For you. Now let’s topple a galactic conspiracy and run away into the stars where no one can find us.” Ren took Goro by the gloved hand, and found the door to the cell unlocked, and eight smiling alien faces waiting for them. 

**Author's Note:**

> Depression is kicking my ass, but I have some good ideas for this week that my best friend encouraged me to at least write basic one-shots for, even if they're posted super late. I like this one becuase it's weird as hell, and I may revisit and write out a longer fic of some of this in the future.
> 
> Thanks for Reading! (* ^ ω ^)  
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/collapsedStarss), [Tumblr](https://collapsingstars-nova.tumblr.com/), [Writing Tumblr](https://paperstarsburst.tumblr.com/)


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